Large Mammals and Process Dynamics in African Ecosystems

Nutrient availability is probabilistic at all trophic levels in tropical savannas, because stochastic rainfall events result in a distribution of soil moisture that is highly variable both spatially and temporally (Tinely 1982).\n Therefore, plants and large mammals in grazing ecosystems can be link...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioscience 1988-12, Vol.38 (11), p.794-800
Main Authors: McNaughton, S. J., Ruess, R. W., Seagle, S. W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biotic communities
Economic aspects
Ecosystems
Food quality
Food supply
Grasses
Grazing
Habitats
Herbivores
Mammalia
Mammals
Nitrogen
Nutrient availability
Nutrient balance
Nutrient cycle
Nutrient cycles
Nutrient dynamics
Nutrient uptake
Plant tissues
Plants
Principals
Rainy season
Savanna soils
Soil ecology
Soil moisture
Soil nutrients
Trophic levels
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Summary:Nutrient availability is probabilistic at all trophic levels in tropical savannas, because stochastic rainfall events result in a distribution of soil moisture that is highly variable both spatially and temporally (Tinely 1982).\n Therefore, plants and large mammals in grazing ecosystems can be linked by limitations of food quantity for large mammals because of limited primary productivity, and by limitations of large mammal food quality due to nutritional deficiency (Bremen and de Wit 1983, Robbins 1983, VanSoest 1982) and nutritional imbalance in forages (McDowell 1985, McNaughton and Georgiadis 1986). During the wet season, fast cycles that prevent nutrient immobilization in dead plant tissues and accelerate plant nutrient uptake rates will be created in landscape regions with an appropriate balance of food supply rate (primary productivity) and quality (nutrient density and balance).
ISSN:0006-3568
1525-3244
DOI:10.2307/1310789